Setting the configuration file properties

When you create and name a new connector configuration file, or when you open an existing connector configuration file, Connector Configurator displays a configuration screen with tabs for the categories of required configuration values.

Connector Configurator requires values for properties in these categories for connectors running on all brokers:

Note:
For connectors that use JMS messaging, an additional category may display, for configuration of data handlers that convert the data to business objects.

For connectors running on ICS, values for these properties are also required:

Important:
Connector Configurator accepts property values in either English or non-English character sets. However, the names of both standard and connector-specific properties, and the names of supported business objects, must use the English character set only.

Standard properties differ from connector-specific properties as follows:

The fields for Standard Properties and Connector-Specific Properties are color-coded to show which are configurable:

Setting standard connector properties

To change the value of a standard property:

  1. Click in the field whose value you want to set.
  2. Either enter a value, or select one from the drop-down menu if it appears.
  3. After entering all the values for the standard properties, you can do one of the following:

To get more information on a particular standard property, move the mouse over the entry in the Description column for that property in the Standard Properties tabbed sheet. If you have Extended Help installed, a Help window will open and display details of the standard property.

For the location of the Extended Help files, refer to the AdapterHelpName property in the standard properties appendix.

Setting connector-specific configuration properties

For connector-specific configuration properties, you can add or change property names, configure values, delete a property, and encrypt a property. The default property length is 255 characters.

  1. Right-click in the top left portion of the grid. A pop-up menu bar will appear. Click Add to add a property. To add a child property, right-click on the parent row number and click Add child.
  2. Enter a value for the property or child property.
  3. To encrypt a property, select the Encrypt box.
  4. Choose to save or discard changes, as described for Setting standard connector properties.

The Update Method displayed for each property indicates whether a component or agent restart is necessary to activate changed values.

Important:
Changing a preset application-specific connector property name may cause a connector to fail. Certain property names may be needed by the connector to connect to an application or to run properly.

Encryption for connector properties

Application-specific properties can be encrypted by selecting the Encrypt check box in the Connector-specific Properties window. To decrypt a value, click to clear the Encrypt check box, enter the correct value in the Verification dialog box, and click OK. If the entered value is correct, the value is decrypted and displays.

The adapter user guide for each connector contains a list and description of each property and its default value.

If a property has multiple values, the Encrypt check box will appear for the first value of the property. When you select Encrypt, all values of the property will be encrypted. To decrypt multiple values of a property, click to clear the Encrypt check box for the first value of the property, and then enter the new value in the Verification dialog box. If the input value is a match, all multiple values will decrypt.

Update method

Refer to the descriptions of update methods found in the Standard configuration properties for connectors appendix, under Configuration property values overview.

Specifying supported business object definitions

Use the Supported Business Objects tab in Connector Configurator to specify the business objects that the connector will use. You must specify both generic business objects and application-specific business objects, and you must specify associations for the maps between the business objects.

Note:
Some connectors require that certain business objects be specified as supported in order to perform event notification or additional configuration (using meta-objects) with their applications. For more information, see the Connector Development Guide for C++ or the Connector Development Guide for Java.

If ICS is your broker

To specify that a business object definition is supported by the connector, or to change the support settings for an existing business object definition, click the Supported Business Objects tab and use the following fields.

Business object name

To designate that a business object definition is supported by the connector, with System Manager running:

  1. Click an empty field in the Business Object Name list. A drop list displays, showing all the business object definitions that exist in the System Manager project.
  2. Click on a business object to add it.
  3. Set the Agent Support (described below) for the business object.
  4. In the File menu of the Connector Configurator window, click Save to Project. The revised connector definition, including designated support for the added business object definition, is saved to an ICL (Integration Component Library) project in System Manager.

To delete a business object from the supported list:

  1. To select a business object field, click the number to the left of the business object.
  2. From the Edit menu of the Connector Configurator window, click Delete Row. The business object is removed from the list display.
  3. From the File menu, click Save to Project.

Deleting a business object from the supported list changes the connector definition and makes the deleted business object unavailable for use in this implementation of this connector. It does not affect the connector code, nor does it remove the business object definition itself from System Manager.

Agent support

If a business object has Agent Support, the system will attempt to use that business object for delivering data to an application via the connector agent.

Typically, application-specific business objects for a connector are supported by that connector's agent, but generic business objects are not.

To indicate that the business object is supported by the connector agent, check the Agent Support box. The Connector Configurator window does not validate your Agent Support selections.

Maximum transaction level

The maximum transaction level for a connector is the highest transaction level that the connector supports.

For most connectors, Best Effort is the only possible choice.

You must restart the server for changes in transaction level to take effect.

If a WebSphere Message Broker is your broker

If you are working in stand-alone mode (not connected to System Manager), you must enter the business object name manually.

If you have System Manager running, you can select the empty box under the Business Object Name column in the Supported Business Objects tab. A combo box appears with a list of the business object available from the Integration Component Library project to which the connector belongs. Select the business object you want from the list.

The Message Set ID is an optional field for WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker 5.0, and need not be unique if supplied. However, for WebSphere MQ Integrator and Integrator Broker 2.1, you must supply a unique ID.

If WAS is your broker

When WebSphere Application Server is selected as your broker type, Connector Configurator does not require message set IDs. The Supported Business Objects tab shows a Business Object Name column only for supported business objects.

If you are working in stand-alone mode (not connected to System Manager), you must enter the business object name manually.

If you have System Manager running, you can select the empty box under the Business Object Name column in the Supported Business Objects tab. A combo box appears with a list of the business objects available from the Integration Component Library project to which the connector belongs. Select the business object you want from this list.

Associated maps (ICS)

Each connector supports a list of business object definitions and their associated maps that are currently active in WebSphere InterChange Server. This list appears when you select the Associated Maps tab.

The list of business objects contains the application-specific business object which the agent supports and the corresponding generic object that the controller sends to the subscribing collaboration. The association of a map determines which map will be used to transform the application-specific business object to the generic business object or the generic business object to the application-specific business object.

If you are using maps that are uniquely defined for specific source and destination business objects, the maps will already be associated with their appropriate business objects when you open the display, and you will not need (or be able) to change them.

If more than one map is available for use by a supported business object, you will need to explicitly bind the business object with the map that it should use.

The Associated Maps tab displays the following fields:

Resources (ICS)

The Resource tab allows you to set a value that determines whether and to what extent the connector agent will handle multiple processes concurrently, using connector agent parallelism.

Not all connectors support this feature. If you are running a connector agent that was designed in Java to be multi-threaded, you are advised not to use this feature, since it is usually more efficient to use multiple threads than multiple processes.

Messaging (ICS)

The Messaging tab enables you to configure messaging properties. The messaging properties are available only if you have set MQ as the value of the DeliveryTransport standard property and ICS as the broker type. These properties affect how your connector will use queues.

Validating messaging queues

Before you can validate a messaging queue, you must:

To validate the queue, use the Validate button to the right of the Messaging Type and Host Name fields on the Massaging tab.

Security levels (ICS)

You can use the Security tab in Connector Configurator to set various privacy levels for a message. You can only use this feature when the DeliveryTransport property is set to JMS.

By default, Privacy is turned off. Check the Privacy box to enable it.

The Keystore Target System Absolute Pathname is:

This path and file should be on the same system as the Connector Configurator.

You can use the Browse button at the right only if the target system is the one currently running. It is greyed out unless Privacy is enabled and the Target System in the menu bar is set to Windows.

The Message Privacy Level may be set as follows for the three messages categories (All Messages, All Administrative Messages, and All business Object Messages):

The Key Maintenance feature lets you generate, import and export public keys for the server and adapter.

Before you can import a certificate into the adapter keystore, you must export it from the server keystore. When you select Export Adapter Public Key, the Export Adapter Public Key dialog box appears.

When you select Import Adapter Public Key, the Import Adapter Public Key dialog box appears.

The Adapter Access Control feature is enabled only when the value of DeliveryTransport is IDL. By default, the adapter logs in with the guest identity. If the Use guest identity box is not checked, the Adapter Identity and Adapter Password fields are enabled.

Setting trace/log file values

When you open a connector configuration file or a connector definition file, Connector Configurator uses the logging and tracing values of that file as default values. You can change those values in Connector Configurator.

To change the logging and tracing values:

  1. Click the Trace/Log Files tab.
  2. For either logging or tracing, you can choose to write messages to one or both of the following:

Data handlers

The data handlers section is available for configuration only if you have designated a value of JMS for DeliveryTransport and a value of JMS for ContainerManagedEvents. Not all adapters make use of data handlers.

See the descriptions under ContainerManagedEvents in Appendix A, Standard Properties, for values to use for these properties. For additional details, see the Connector Development Guide for C++ or the Connector Development Guide for Java.

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